Hoping to meet increasing demands for electricity in Phnom Penh, the government has approved a multi-million dollar renovation of the Kirirom hydropower station.
Government officials hope the station, located about 110 km southwest of the capital in Kompong Speu province, will generate 12 megawatts of power, mostly delivered to Phnom Penh.
The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy signed a $26 million agreement with the China Electric Power Technology Import & Export Corporation (CETIC) to allow the company to reconstruct one of three earth-filled dams, the Kirirom 1 Hydropower Project.
But the project’s location in the government-protected Kirirom National Park has caused concern among environmentalists, who didn’t automatically oppose the construction but asked that environmental studies be done.
According to some industry officials, however, no studies should be made because the environmental impact was examined in 1969 before construction began on the original power station, which was destroyed by war in the early 1970s after only 13 months in operation.
Still, the environment coordinator for the NGO Forum on Cambodia, Mak Sothirith, called for a new study, saying the first one focused more on economic issues than the environment.
He noted that when the existing reservoir begins to expand behind the dam, a number of forest areas will flood. Decaying tree roots could eventually pollute downstream water supplies with bacteria. Controlling land use around the dam could also become a problem for the government, according to the Ministry of Environment’s conservation director, Chay Samith. He cited the government’s failure to regulate land near the O’Chum micro-hydropower plant in Banlung town, Ratanakkiri province.
After construction on O’Chum was completed in 1992 , the land surrounding the reservoir was cleared for soybean plantations and the resulting erosion made the reservoir so shallow that there was often not enough water to generate electricity. At present, the plant produces power only during the rainy season, officials say.
Chay Simith said he also worries people will move near the Kirirom reservoir area and clear land for housing or plantations. He claims several hundred hectares of land in the park have already been cleared by powerful businessmen and military officials.
Bun Narith, director of the Ministry of Industry’s hydropower department, admitted problems are inevitable, but said the cost of those problems were far lower than the benefits expected from the project.
“We have learned [from] the O’Chum station, “ he said. “We won’t repeat it. Twenty-six million dollars is a lot for us. Bigger project, better management.”
Under the agreement signed, CETIC will rebuild two new turbines and the reinstall a 110 kilowatt-hour transmission line to Phnom Penh. The ownership of the transmission line itself will be transferred to Electricite du Cambodge as soon as construction is completed, according to Ty Norin, planning director for EdC.
The reconstruction, scheduled to begin in mid-2001 and be completed by early 2003, will help supply sufficient electricity to a growing string of light industries along Route 4, government officials said, while also helping to stave off potential power crunches in Phnom Penh. The capital now using the equivalent on 70 megawatts of power every year, officials said.
